Sunday, June 5, 2011

.....One would think that this month would go by fast seeing that we have both my kiddo's birthdays, our 5 year anniversary (Love you, Jordan!), a 4 day hair conference in Las Vegas, Father's Day, and a quick trip to Houston to see the family. And let's not forget the obvious, daily duties as a mom and wife, on top of running my salon and being there for all my amazing, supportive clients.

Being the tumultuous person that I am, this was just not enough. I was getting bored just thinking about it, which caused my thoughts to turn to my baby boy across the world, which then led to me pondering ways to assure our journey was getting closer to him, since we can't control the speed or pace of the Ethiopian government. So, we decided to host another garage sale fundraiser for our adoption at the end of the month. The exact dates are Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25, from 7-4.

Last year, our garage sale fundraiser was a HUGE success. We were able to cover the cost of our intial agency fee and a big chunk of our homestudy. (Roughly $2600.) God truly showed up in a big way! Not only did we raise money for our personal adoption, but we were able to spread orphan awareness in our community and experience His glory, through tons of conversations. You can go here to read about our 2010 garage sale.

So, here we are, at the beginning stages, again.................And here I am, yet again, asking for some continued support for our garage sale. They weren't lying when they said it takes a village!

So to all my fellow Austinites, if you have things that have been sitting around your house that you have been meaning to donate to goodwill, we will gladly accept. We will even come to you, if it makes it easier. We will accept anything and everything, from clothes, electronics, furniture, arts and crafts, toys, your leftover garage sale stuff, you name it! You can either email me at mrandmrsmichael@gmail.com, you can message me on facebook, or even call or text me.

If you don't live in the Austin area, if you wouldn't mind help get the word out to all of your friends in the Austin area by sharing this blog. The more stuff we have, the more money we will raise.

If you don't have anything to donate, please come out and check out all the merchandise. Last year we had everything to brand-new clothing to ping pong tables.

ALL proceeds will go towards our 2 trips that we are required to take for our 2 Ethiopian court dates, that one day we will know.

Please also pray that God will show up throughout our garage sale fundraiser and His glory will be made known.

I am a believer of a mighty God, wife to an amazing man, mother of 3 beautiful children, and in my spare time, I am a hairstylist to all of my wonderful clients. I have a heart for injustice, adoption, cooking, reading, movies and people!

"For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Ps. 139:13-14

Stella Girl (5 yrs.old)

Maximus (3 yrs. old)

Sweet Moses (1 year old)

Our Adoption Timeline

Apply to Agency...May 2010

Homestudy...November 2010

I-600 & Dossier sent...January 2011

Our Referral of Moses...April 2012

1st Trip to Ethiopia & Court...May 2012

2nd Travel to Ethiopia & Embassy...Sept 2012

FOREVER HOME...October 6, 2012

The Time in Ethiopia

Why Adopt From Ethiopia?

-One in six children die before their fifth birthday.
-44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old.
-60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition.
-The median age in Ethiopia is 17.8 years.
-1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world).
-720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone, and there are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia.
-Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa.
-In the 90's the population (3%) grew faster than food production (2.2%). Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (1st year no crops, 2nd year no seeds, 3rd year no animals)
-Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school.
-Coffee prices (Ethiopia's only major export) fell 40-60% from 1998-2002.
-Ethiopia's doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.
-In 1993, after 30 long years of war, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia and became an independent nation leaving Ethiopia landlocked without any major seafaring ports.